


nothing like a hospital waiting room for an existential crisis

by KirstieJ



Series: let's try this again [2]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: F/M, Feelings, Gen, Hospitals, Pre-Relationship, Waiting Rooms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 17:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13195062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirstieJ/pseuds/KirstieJ
Summary: After Kate's final and most tricky surgery, Doug and Anne are called back to the hospital early in the morning because some complications arose. Renée joins themwritten for a prompt on tumblr "Hospital waiting room in the early hours of the morning w/ minffel" and set in the same universe as "Isn't this just like us" so, it's probably good to read that one first.





	nothing like a hospital waiting room for an existential crisis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Taniushka12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taniushka12/gifts).



A few hours after Kate’s final and most serious surgery, Doug gets a call on his phone that requests he come back to the hospital, because some after-surgery complications arose. She may end up in serious or critical condition again.

As soon as he hangs up, he springs into action, splashing water on his face and getting dressed, then goes to wake his daughter from an already fitful sleep.

Renée, too, woke up upon hearing Doug receive the phone call, so she gets up and drives them to back to the hospital. They’re sent into the waiting room once again.

After about five minutes, Anne pulls out her phone and starts playing a game to distract herself. Doug has his knee bouncing on the floor, chewing on his thumbnail as he stares at the wall. Renée fiddles with her hair, regretful that she didn’t bring an elastic because she only seldom has it down when she’s not asleep.

Twenty minutes pass, and they get no word on Kate or her condition. Anne gets up and announces she’s going for a walk and doesn’t wait to read or see a response from Renée or Doug before turning around and exiting the door. She’s done this almost every time they’ve had to wait more than ten minutes to see Kate, so Doug doesn’t bother trying to catch her or say anything before she goes.

Renée sighs and turns towards Doug. He frowns at her, looking like a sad kitten. She makes a sympathetic noise and reaches for him, and he hugs her to his body.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Renée says.

“I hope,” Doug says. “What sort of goddamn bullshit would it be for us to survive, y’know, everything that happened to us, and for her to die in _surgery_?”

“The kind of bullshit that this world actually operates on,” Renée murmurs. “I mean, thankfully, the ‘good guys win and live’ trope worked for us, but,” Renée shakes her head. “Whatever you believe, it’s either ‘there’s no plan at all, it’s not a Just World, things happen’, or ‘God works in mystery ways and sometimes takes people away’.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Doug says.

Renée pauses. “Did you mean that question rhetorically?”

Doug chuckles a little, “I don’t even know, Né.” He sighs. “I guess we should know better than anybody that we’re sort of just floating out here aimlessly, we only create direction for ourselves, yada yada.”

“Nothing like a hospital waiting room for an existential crisis,” Renée says.

“After years in space, I almost missed having them every day,” Doug says, and she snorts.

“Moron,” she mutters.

“Your moron,” he says, and she lifts her head to kiss him on the chin. He chuckles and squeezes her closer, and she snuggles into him further.

They stay like that for a few minutes. Renée almost drifts back to sleep like this, wrapped up in the warmth of Doug’s arms. Just as she feels herself nodding off, he moves, and she lets out a long whine.

“Awh, I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Doug says, and she looks at him. He chuckles, noticing that she’s blushing.

“It’s okay,” she says, shaking her head. “I probably shouldn’t fall asleep, anyway.”

“Oh, shit, were you actually almost asleep?”

“…Maybe,” she says. He laughs at her.

“Now that, I would say, is a sign we need coffee. There’s a machine a few halls over, want me to get you one too?” Doug asks, standing up and stretching. She glances at him, doing a once over. He doesn’t seem to notice.  

“Yeah, sure. I’ll wait here in case Anne comes back,” Renée says, and he gives a nod before leaving. While she’s alone, Renée absently starts to braid her hair to the side.

A minute or two after he leaves, low and behold, Anne returns to the room and looks around. She rubs her eyes and then signs to ask, “Where is my dad?”

Renée signs back to say, “Gone to get coffee.”

Anne signs, “Okay,” then looks around herself.

“How are you,” Renée signs, worry crossing her face.

Anne signs, “Bad.”

Renée signs, “I’m sorry,” frowning. Renée reaches for her a bit. Anne goes to hug her and eventually just plops down in Renée’s lap. Renée smiles a little and keeps her arms looped around the teen on top of her as Anne curls around her. She knows Anne hasn’t been sleeping much since this ordeal started.

Renée’s also fairly surprised, because she has been under the impression Anne doesn’t really _like_ her all that much. She doesn’t think Anne dislikes her, either, but Anne seems to get along a lot better with Daniel and Isabel and her grandparents (naturally) and literally anyone else other than Renée. Which is fair, they’ve only known each other for, what, a week and a half now? Renée spent the first few days trying too hard to make a good impression and coming off as awkward, and rest of the time she’s let Anne just sort of come to her if she wants to. Apparently now is one of those times.  

Either way, Renée accepts that she now has a heavy, sleep-deprived child on her lap. This is her life. She’s okay with it, honestly.

A few minutes later, Doug returns to the room with the coffee he went for. Upon seeing the two of them sitting there, something squeezes in his chest, and he feels an intense mix of emotions that he couldn’t begin to name. He stands in the door, his heart beating harder for reasons he doesn’t fully understand, and he smiles softly at the two of them.

Renée looks up and she smiles back at him, tired. “Hey,” she says.

“Hey,” he responds, walking in the room. He puts the coffee down on the little end table and touches Anne’s shoulder. She doesn’t respond, other than by making a noise in her sleep. He chuckles quietly and sits down next to Renée.

“How did this happen?” he asks, voice hushed even though Anne wouldn’t really be able to hear much anyway, and she probably has her hearing aids turned off by now.

“I dunno,” Renée says, “I offered her a hug and she just decided this was her seat now.”

Doug chuckles, “She’s pretty exhausted, I think.”

“Yeah,” Renée murmurs, “she has bags under her eyes. Almost worse than yours by now.”

“Geeze. That’s saying something.”

“Still not as bad as mine, I don’t think,” Renée lifts a hand over Anne and presses a finger under her eye, “but these have been here since, oh, say… Maybe two years into the space trip?” 

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Doug says. “You poor thing,” he mumbles. She gives a quiet laugh.

“I know,” Renée says. “Oh well. I sleep a liiittle more, now.”

“Yeah,” Doug murmurs. He puts his arm around Renée and she leans her head towards him. He brings a hand up to brush his fingers gently through Anne’s hair. It’s not nearly as unruly as his is, thank god.

The three of them sit like that in silence, save for Anne’s quiet noises in the light sleep she’s in. Renée ends up shutting her eyes again, and Doug just flicks his gaze between his daughter and his… well, whatever Renée really is to him now. Best friend, ‘wife’, roommate, companion. They’re all terms that apply in some way or another, but what he feels for her is beyond his current grasp on the English language. He hasn’t really told her that, yet.

His thoughts about his complicated relationship to his former commander get cut short a moment or so later as a doctor arrives in the waiting room and calls his name, “Um, Doug Eiffel?” The doctor they’ve normally been dealing with is off, so they haven’t met this one before.

Renée startles on his shoulder and Doug looks to the doctor, confirming his identity.

“Is this Anne?” the doctor asks, and Renée nudges Anne until she lifts her head and looks around. Renée encourages her to stand, and then stands as well. Anne turns on her hearing aids and then rubs at her eyes.

“Yeah,” Doug says slowly as the two beside him move, and he stands himself. Renée steps a little forward, so she’s sort of between Anne and the doctor but not blocking the view.

“You’re the family of Kate Garcia, yes? Her daughter, and ex-partner?”

Renée glances over and signs what he’s said to Anne, who smiles a little at her and says, “Yes,” to the doctor.

“Yeah,” Doug repeats.

“And you’re, um, Mrs. Eiffel?” the doctor asks, taking a guess, possibly having noticed the ring on her finger.

“Uh, Minkowski. But, we’re basically married,” Renée says, though there’s a hint of sarcasm and she has no idea whether the doctor will pick up on that. She signs this, too, because it’s only fair for Anne to be included. It makes Anne smile in a different way, cheekier.

“Okay, great,” the doctor says. “Well, we have some good news for you. Kate’s condition has stabilized. The complications that arose seem to have been fully dealt with so far. We will continue to monitor her, of course, and it’s impossible to really know if something else will come up. But, for now, we’re hopeful.”

Renée is a little slower at signing this, but Anne watches intently, and with what she can hear from the doctor, she gathers the gist of it. She smiles over to her father, who puts his arm around her and she hugs him around the waist.

“You’ll be able to go to see her in just a moment. Relatives only, unfortunately.”

“Girlfriends don’t count?” Doug asks, glancing at Renée. She blushes.

“Mh, not exactly,” the doctor says, looking sympathetic.  

“It’s okay,” Renée says, a little quickly, “I can wait here, don’t worry about me.”

“Fine,” Doug huffs. Another moment or two passes, and some device the doctor has beeps.

“Alright, if you’ll just follow me,” the doctor says. Doug pauses to hug Renée, and Anne joins them. She presses a kiss to his cheek and strokes Anne’s hair once before the two pull back and go to do as the doctor requested of them.

Renée sits back down on the couch, feeling happy that Kate is in a good condition. However, she also has a weird buzzing in her chest, probably because of Doug referring to her as his girlfriend in a manner that wasn’t clearly a joke. She assumes it was just to see if the doctor would let her come along but, honestly, she doesn’t really need to be there. She’s not Doug’s girlfriend, or his wife, which means she’s not Anne’s step-mother either. It’s probably not her place, even if she and Kate have been getting along extremely well since they met. It’s not that she doesn’t want to be there, either, but throughout all of this it’s been tough to know **what** her place really is. She’s just sort of going along with everything, but proverbially flying by the seat of her pants as never been a particular strong suit (even if she is, in fact, actually pretty decent at flying a literal plane with no plan, when she needs to be).

Renée sighs and puts a hand to her chest, not really willing or able to address all the complex feelings welling inside of her right now. She’s too drained, sitting in a hospital waiting room at almost 2am, to be dealing with this crap. So, she leans her head back and curls up, pulling her unzipped jacket around her a little tighter as she waits for Doug and Anne to get back, trying to think about anything else. A musical, perhaps. She’s been wanting to re-listen to one of her favourite soundtracks but hasn’t found a moment to download it onto her phone in all this hospital visits, so she goes through the songs in her head and listens to them by memory as best she can.

The visit with Kate is short, but Renée is still half-snoozing when they get back. Doug shakes her awake and smiles at her.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” he says with a wink. She elects to ignore that.

“How is Kate doing?” Renée murmurs.

“She’s pretty okay, pumped full of painkillers but she was glad to see Anne. Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Renée breathes, tapping her cheeks a couple of times to wake up a little more. She stands and stretches, and they start out of the hospital waiting room together, back to the nearby hotel they’ve been staying at.

As soon as they get back, they go to their respective rooms and beds. Renée curls on her side as soon as she lies down. It only takes a moment for Doug to wrap his arm around her from behind, pressing close. It’s a familiar move by now, but that doesn’t stop it from inciting the complicated feelings Renée has been avoiding dealing with on this particular night. She does her best to ignore them and go to sleep. There’s no shortage of time to address it later, she tells herself, though she also realizes she doesn’t want to wait too long, and it’s already been months coming that these feelings have been slowly bubbling up and coming to her attention. Still, 3am isn’t the time for this, so she promises herself she’ll think about it more, later, and sleep for now.

 

 

 


End file.
